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December 10, 2021December 11, 2021

REVIEW: The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ The Musical, Pick Me Up Theatre, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York ****

*Toni Feetenby as Pauline Mole and Jack Hambleton as Adrian Mole in Pick Me Up Theatre’s The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾. All pictures: Matthew Kitchen* *Photography*

LEICESTER council estate housewife Sue Townsend’s spotty teenage diarist has gone through many lives since the early 1980s.

Original stage monologue, when the central, older, character was called Nigel. Novel. More novels. Television series. Musical, with a script by Townsend and music and lyrics by Ken Howard and Alan Blakley. Play and junior play. Musical, with book and lyrics by Jake Brunger and music and lyrics by Pippa Cleary.

Robert Readman’s York company, Pick Me Up Theatre, are presenting the British amateur premiere of the Brunger & Cleary version on an open-plan traverse stage that evokes both 1980s’ Leicester school rooms and house interiors.

The traverse design, with the audience to either side and on the mezzanine level above, cranks up the sense of combat and swimming against the tide, in this case the story of an awkward 13¾-year-old intellectual’s battles.

Pick Me Up Theatre’s cast members: back row, Toni Feetenby, left, Alan Park, Ian Giles, Andrew Isherwood and Emily Halstead. Middle row: Adam Sowter, left, Flynn Coultous, Jack Hambleton, Florence Poskitt, Freddie Adams, Guy Wilson and Alexandra Mather. Front row: Sandy Nicholson, left, Flynn Baistow, Benedict Wood and Dotty Davies

This is Adrian (Jack Hambleton) against the world, whether having to contend with playground bully Barry Kent (Guy Wilson); endless spots; disciplinarian, narrow-minded headmaster Mr Scruton (Adam Sowter), or Nigel (Flynn Coultous), his rival for school crush Pandora (Emily Halstead).

Or Bert Baxter (Ian Giles), the 89-year-old curmudgeon that Adrian has to deal with on his Good Samaritans visits; or teacher Miss Elf (Florence Poskitt), never marking his work as highly as he thinks he deserves, or his struggles in the family home, where mother Pauline (Toni Feetenby) is being distracted by smarmy, hands-on neighbour Mr Lucas (Andrew Isherwood), and his father, George (Alan Park) is at a low ebb. At least Grandma (Sandy Nicholson) is there to comfort him (and squeeze his spots).

Polymath Readman is as much a set designer as director and choreographer, and his playful set with doors to either side allows for the speedy addition and removal of chairs, and for heads to jut through drape-covered window spaces to join in ensemble numbers, reminiscent of sudden interjections in The Muppets.

*Florence Poskitt’s teacher Miss Elf and Jack Hambleton’s Adrian Mole*

Amid the constraints imposed by performing in pandemic times, Readman decided to keep his cast size trim, by having adults play children as well as the adults, aside from the four teenage protagonists, performed by the already name-checked Team Townsend on press night, alternating through the run with Team Sue (Flynn Baistow’s Adrian, Benedict Wood’s Nigel, Dotty Davies’s Pandora and Freddie Adams’s Barry).

This was an inspired decision, with extra fun to be had in seeing faces so familiar on the York stage revert to teenage tropes (much like in the casting for John Godber’s classroom comedy, Teechers), especially in the ensemble numbers.

Readman’s decision also enhances your appreciation of the young performers, Hambleton’s beleaguered Adrian narrating with a hangdog expression; Halstead’s posh but socially aware Pandora being every inch the head girl in waiting; Coultous’s Nigel staying both perky and pesky throughout, and Wilson’s Barry casting his black-clothed shadow with a panto villain’s glee.

Brunger and Cleary’s songbook is savvy and witty in its lyrics, if more workmanlike in its tunes, but keyboard player Tim Selman’s band (with Jonathan Sage on woodwind, Rosie Morris on bass and Clark Howard on drums) gives it plenty of oomph. So much so, the sound balance on Wednesday sometimes made it hard to hear Hambleton clearly when narrating to music.

*Andrew Isherwood’s hands-on Mr Lucas and Toni Feetenby’s change-seeking Pauline Mole*

Readman has picked a tremendous cast all round, both for his young leading lights, and everywhere you look among the experienced ranks; be it the face-pulling comic turns of Poskitt and Sowter; the sliminess of Isherwood; the squashed-face grumpiness of Giles; or the return to the fore of the recently lesser-spotted, top-notch Feetenby and Park as the troubled parents,

Nicholson’s Grandma warms you like a cup of tea. Oh, and look out for opera singer Alexandra Mather as you will never have seen her before, vamping it up as naughty neighbour Doreen Slater.

Technically not a Christmas show, nevertheless the diary’s timespan from early-Eighties’ New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Eve means it sits well in the winter season. Diary note to yourself: book a ticket NOW.

Pick Me Up Theatre present Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, The Musical, John Cooper Studio, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until December 18, 7.30pm, except December 11 and 12; 2.30pm matinees, December 11, 12 and 18. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

*Flynn Baistow’s Adrian Mole, from Team Sue, and Sandy Nicholson’s Grandma*

December 10, 2021December 10, 2021

REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Pocket Sinfonia, NCEM, York, December 9

York Early Music Christmas Festival: Pocket Sinfonia, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 9

THIS was a delightful late-afternoon entertainment, made all the more so by being unexpected (there was a further performance later in the evening, as is happening with most of the concerts in the festival).

Only four years old, Pocket Sinfonia is a quartet built around Emil Duncumb’s fortepiano. The other players cover flute, violin and cello. They specialise in 19^th century transcriptions of classical music for larger forces and here included a Mozart piano concerto and a Haydn symphony.

If that sounds unexciting, think again. We have perhaps been too prissy, even purist, about scaled-down versions of larger pieces. Covid has hastened a revision of that idea. Smaller groups have had to tackle bigger works, if only to ensure social distancing. Results have been gently reassuring.

But enough of the mechanics. Essentially what we had was a piano quartet, with flute and violin taking turns to play the top part. It made for an intimate sound, made more so by the relatively introverted fortepiano (as opposed to the modern pianoforte) and the use of a wooden flute, which is less incisive than its modern counterpart and thus more mellow in a small ensemble.

Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor, K.491, in Hummel’s transcription, took a short time to adjust to. For a start, the fortepiano joined the opening tutti, which would not normally have involved the soloist. But the intimate sound worked its magic and compelled attention. Where we would have expected bold dialogue, we had soloist and supporting trio sharing confidences. In short, it was akin to hearing a new piece.

Duncumb was exceptionally nimble-fingered. It was part of the style in the 19^th century to decorate solo lines more than happens today, partly to counteract the quicker ‘decay’ – dying away of sound – of the fortepiano. The extra ornamentation in the slow movement especially seemed quite natural rather than grafted on for display. The finale’s set of variations grew in impatience and weight, and the closing accelerando was exciting indeed.

Now we had a lull with a transcription by the group’s violinist, Eleanor Corr, of a Mozart dance, Der Schlittenfahrt (The Sleigh Ride), complete with occasional bells (which might have been a touch more jingly). But it was just the kind of setting you might have heard at a Viennese court ball (or even coffee-house) in his own day, a tasty bonbon.

The third last of Haydn’s London symphonies, No 102 in B flat (mysteriously described in the programme as ‘The Miracle’, although that is actually No 96) was given in Clementi’s superb arrangement. We missed only the timpani in a development section of thrilling power.

Alex Rolton’s reliable cello came to the fore briefly in the slow movement – adapted by Haydn from a piano trio – and Rosie Bowker’s flute took an eloquent lead in the closing rondo. The group mined Haydn’s witty gaps here to the full.

Early music has come a long way since it dealt solely with mediaeval and baroque music and forced audiences to endure anaemic noises and excruciating intonation in the name of ‘authenticity’ (I exaggerate). Just how far was proved by Pocket Sinfonia’s skill and sensitivity. I hope they will make an early return to York.

Review by Martin Dreyer

December 10, 2021December 10, 2021

REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on The Heath Quartet, British Music Society of York

*The Heath Quartet, now led by violinist Marije Johnston, second from right*

The Heath Quartet, British Music Society of York (BMS), Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, December 3

THE Heath Quartet last appeared in York exactly ten years ago. At that time, they were led by their founder, Oliver Heath. Then he decided to seek pastures new and Marije Johnston took his place.

What you would never guess from this performance is that that exchange took place a mere four months ago. Johnston’s pedigree as a chamber musician allowed her to slot seamlessly into place. Bear that in mind as you read on.

At first sight, the pairing of late Janáček and late Beethoven string quartets – played in that order – looks quirky, even fanciful. The works were written almost exactly 100 years apart, each within a year of the composer’s death. They formed the Heath Quartet’s sparkling, I dare even say memorable, programme for the BMS of York.

Janacek’s Second Quartet – known as ‘Intimate Letters’ and encapsulating the turbulent emotions of his more than 700 letters to Kamila Stösslová, his much younger muse in his final decade – has four movements but with constantly changing tempos in each.

The seven movements of Beethoven’s Op 131 in C sharp minor run into one another, making the work equally restless, if not more so. Near death they may have been, but each man was writing in the white heat of unbridled inspiration. The parallels are uncanny.

So the Janáček turned out to be a perfect intro into the Beethoven: they were men on the same kind of mission. The Heaths tuned into that immediately.

Apart from the cellist, who sat on a small plinth, the others stood to play, which allowed them freedom of movement. Johnston, playing second fiddle here, and viola player Gary Pomeroy took full advantage, swaying and bending ceaselessly. Sara Wolstenholme, leading, remained much calmer. But none of this affected their ensemble; they breathed, and played, as one.

The key player in the Janáček is the viola, who represents Kamila. Pomeroy did not disappoint. The work veers, sometimes wildly, between tension and lyricism and he skilfully spearheaded the latter.

Janáček’s yearnings welled up regularly, almost physically so in the slow second movement with palpitations and a devilish Ländler-style dance. The ebbs and flows of the third movement seemed to disintegrate into disillusionment in its adagio section, while the Dumka finale with its spine-tingling tremolos juxtaposed slow-moving melancholy with much livelier excitement. This was vivid musical autobiography, tellingly told.

In the Beethoven, the violinists changed places, so that Johnston now led. This symbolised just how closely all four players are integrated with one another. The piece marks a virtual renaissance of the 18^th century divertimento, so diffuse is its layout.

The duos of the opening fugue were quietly menacing, but the succeeding Allegro was both playful and intimate; once again the Heaths were alive to sudden mood-changes. The central variations were delicately drawn.

The Presto, taken at a good clip, was treated like a scherzo, full of good humour and a lightness of touch we might expect in Mendelssohn. The finale’s two themes were beautifully contrasted, culminating in a ferociously determined final burst. Here, more than ever, we had the sense of theatre that infused the whole evening. This always was – and still is – a quartet worth travelling a long way to hear.

Review by Martin Dreyer

December 9, 2021December 9, 2021

How Hayley Del Harrison brought the dance to CBeebies’ Christmas show and York Theatre Royal’s pantomime, Cinderella

Cinderella choreographer Hayley Del Harrison, front, with the York Theatre Royal pantomime ensemble: middle row, dance captain Ella Guest, left, Thomas Yeomans and Lauren Richardson; back row, Christian Mortimer, Amy Hammond and Luke Lucas

YORK freelance choreographer and movement director Hayley Del Harrison’s creativity can be seen at the double this festive season.

Not only has she choreographed York Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions’ effervescent pantomime Cinderella, up and running until January 2, but also CBeebies Presents: The Night Before Christmas.

Already this CBeebies Christmas show has made its cinema debut on November 28, and the TV launch on the Beeb will come rather sooner than the night before Christmas: Saturday, December 11 to be precise.

This is her second CBeebies project of the year, having worked with York Theatre Royal creative director (and Cinderella director) Juliet Forster on CBeebies Presents: Romeo And Juliet, filmed at Leeds Playhouse.

More on the Theatre Royal pantomime later, but first, Hayley, 50, recalls working on the CBeebies Christmas show from late-September through to October 10 in Plymouth, working under pandemic constraints that meant the company had to be put up in a hotel in social bubbles.

“We had the whole of the Plymouth Theatre Royal building to ourselves and the TR2 rehearsal room too,” she says.

“No-one else was allowed into the space because we knew the risk was too great. We had only that short window to rehearse it, a short window to film it, and that’s why we were so strict.

“We did it all in two weeks; the first week in the rehearsal space, and then in the second week we moved into the theatre, we teched it, and did two shows to invited audiences of schoolchildren and one without one for the couple of days of filming.”

*York choreographer and movement director Hayley Del Harrison*

Hayley worked with director Chris Jarvis, a “CBeebies legend” with a theatre background, who had played Lord Montague in Forster’s CBeebies Presents: Romeo And Juliet and has 25 years’ experience of directing, producing, writing and performing in pantomimes. This winter he is playing the dame, Betty Bonbon, in Beauty And The Beast at Poole’s Lighthouse, in Dorset.

Again the creative process was influenced by Covid strictures. “I got the songs [by Banks and Wag] and script in advance, and with everyone being so far away, we had the readthrough online, chats online with Chris Banks and a long Zoom meeting with Chris Jarvis about where my input would be, and I remember at one point jumping to my feet and saying, ‘I’m thinking of doing this’!” says Hayley.

“As the show is for young children, a lot of the choreography is designed so that they can copy it. It’s big on storytelling and simple to replicate because, once the show is on BBC iPlayer, they can watch it over and over again. These CBeebies shows are big on participation.”

Hayley worked with a CBeebies cast of 16. “I’d worked with eight of them before on Romeo And Juliet. It’s different from a theatre pantomime because it’s not like you have an ensemble,” she says.

“Everyone has their role, their unique selling point and their chance to shine, but they’re also brilliant at what they do whether as presenters or actors. it’s been nice to get to know them over the two projects, getting an understanding of how they work and then wrapping the show around their characters to present Clement Clarke Moore’s beautiful poem.

“You’re working with characters who are much loved, so, for example, the character playing the villain has to be silly, rather than frightening, because it’s a show for two to six year olds. It means you have to be very careful; everything is more gentle but really funny.”

Looking back on her two CBeebies’ shows in 2021, Hayley says: “I feel I’ve built up a really good relationship and would love to do more of this work. Fingers crossed.

“It already feels like being part of a family, similar to working at the Theatre Royal. When it feels right, it feels really collaborative and there’s a mutual understanding. I know how they work and they know how I work.”

*CBeebies’ Andy Day (Dandini) with the ensemble in a song-and-dance routine from York Theatre Royal’s Cinderella, choreographed by Hayley Del Harrison*

York-born Hayley’s focus then switched to Cinderella, working once more for York Theatre Royal after last year’s Travelling Pantomime (directed by Forster) and such previous productions as The Storm Whale and A View From The Bridge in 2019, For The Fallen in 2018 and In Fog And Falling Snow at the National Railway Museum in 2015.

She received Paul Hendy’s script in October, when most of the music was signed off by musical supervisor James Harrison by the end of that month. “For this kind of show, the more information I have up front, the better I do my job,” says Hayley.

“I can start getting my head around it, though I do like creating in the room too. I’m up for being flexible, but I like to have a clear vision, and that’s what’s great about working with Juliet.

“Yes, she likes being creative in the rehearsal room but her vision is always clear, and because it’s clear, it gives me freedom. I understand where she’s coming from, and she trusts me.”

For Cinderella, Hayley has worked with the seven principals, a six-strong ensemble and two aerial artists, Connor and Tiffany of Duo Fusion, who take part in some of the dancing too.

“We did the auditions for the ensemble just before I went off to Plymouth, and I’ve been delighted to find such versatile performers,” she says.

“They have to do three separate dance styles: lyrical pieces; fun, comedic, highly technical jazz and tap, and work with the text.

“ I wanted everyone to bring something different to the table to ensure there were different characters within the ensemble, and we’re really happy with them. It’s not, ‘here come the dancers’; they’re very much part of the story.”

Cinderella runs at York Theatre Royal until January 2 2022. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. CBeebies Presents: The Night Before Christmas premieres on December 11 and will then be available on BBC iPlayer.

*CBeebies Presents: The Night Before Christmas, choreographed by Hayley Del Harrison. Picture copyright : BBC*

December 9, 2021December 9, 2021

Theatre Royal’s fun-filled panto ensemble makes a song and dance of Cinderella

CBeebies’ Andy Day (Dandini), left, and the ensemble’s Christian Mortimer, Ella Guest, Luke Lucas, Amy Hammond and Thomas Yeomans in a song-and-dance routine in York Theatre Royal’s pantomime, Cinderella

YORK Theatre Royal pantomime choreographer Hayley Del Harrison was determined to employ dancers from the north when casting for Cinderella.

She succeeded in her aim: five of the six-strong team of dancers are from Yorkshire, two of them from York.

“There’s a lot of talk about supporting regional artists in theatres across the country but it’s rarely implemented,” says York-born Hayley, who danced professionally in the West End and Europe as well as teaching dance and choreographing for 30 years.

“There was no way we were going to do a London audition before we put out a casting call in Yorkshire. Dancers from the north spend a fortune travelling to London for auditions, ironically and far too often, for jobs in the north.

“As it happened, we didn’t even need to do a London audition because we found exactly what we were looking for on home grown soil. And they’re absolutely fantastic.”

Hayley trained at the Northern Ballet School in Manchester, where two of the ensemble, Tom Yeomans, from York, and Lauren Richardson, from Helmsley, also trained. Cinderella marks the professional debut of both performers.

Tom appeared in youth roles with amateur companies York Light Opera Company and York Stage while taking lessons at the Patricia Veale School of Dancing, in Holgate.

At Northern Ballet School, he studied all forms of dance, not only ballet and although he wants a career in musical theatre, he was thankful for such a broad training “because I got such a strong classical technique, which means we’re versatile in everything we do”.

*Faye Campbell (Cinderella) and Max Fulham (Buttons) in rehearsal with Thomas Yeomans, back left, Amy Hammond and Luke Lucas*

“I’m loving doing pantomime,” says Tom. “It’s such a fun thing and good experience – and I get to stay at home with my family at Christmas too.”

Lauren is relishing the opportunity too, having graduated in July. “I’m fed up with Zoom and dancing in my own bedroom. That’s not the best but we had to do it,” she says.

As a youngster, she danced in pantomimes as an amateur. Cinderella marks her first professional contract. “I used to watch pantomime when I was a little girl and think, ‘I’d like to be one of those dancers’. My passion just grew and grew,” she said.

“I’m more musical theatre than ballet but I wouldn’t be the dancer I am without learning ballet technique. Ballet is amazing but I prefer the more glitzy, showbiz sort of dance.”

*Front row: Dance captain Ella Guest, left, Thomas Yeomans and Lauren Richardson; back row: Christian Mortimer, left, Amy Hammond and Luke Lucas*

Another making her professional bow is the second debutant from York, Ella Guest. She began dancing as a child, going on to study performing arts at CAPA College, Wakefield, and Bird College Conservatoire of Dance and Musical Theatre, London.

“I started when I was young and absolutely loved dancing and singing and acting,” she says. “Acting gives you a chance to express yourself and have fun,” she says.

Ella has seen pantomimes at both York Theatre Royal and the Grand Opera House, and she has even appeared in one: Cinderella at York Barbican a decade ago.

“It’s such a change of lifestyle after graduating, and Cinderella at the Theatre Royal fitted perfectly,” she says. “It’s really nice to have a job and to be at home to spend time with my family.”

*Luke Lucas in the rehearsal room at the De Grey Rooms*

Making her professional debut is Hull-born Amy Hammond, who grew up in Driffield. She graduated this year from SLP College, in Leeds, where her credits during training included the role of Nikki Wade in the Bad Girls musical and ensemble work in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Don’t Stop Me Now. She was also in dance shows featuring routines from big musicals such as Cats, 42nd Street and Fosse.

“My goal is to go into West End musicals, touring shows and things like that,” says Amy. “I’ve been dancing since I was very young and just love performing. “I saw pantos when I was younger and it’s really nice to see pantos move with the times, keeping up to date and adding modern touches as well as the more traditional things.”

Christian Mortimer is back in the city where he studied singing, acting and dancing for four years at York College – and back living at home with his parents in Harrogate.

Although he has been “singing all my life”, he does not know where the performing bug came from. “As I went into the sixth form, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” he says. “I was doing science, sport and music for A-levels. Then I came across a musical theatre course at York College. I saw shows like Les Miserables and Billy Elliot and thought, ‘I’d love to do that’. It seemed more thrilling than going into the music industry.”

*Luke Lucas, left, Christian Mortimer and Thomas Yeomans reach for the sky during rehearsals for Cinderella*

His first professional job was in the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on the Isle of Man, while his further theatre credits include playing Issachar in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

The sixth – and only non-Yorkshire – member of the ensemble, Luke Lucas, trained at Liverpool Theatre School in his home city. York Theatre Royal is not his first panto as his credits include the ensemble for Cinderella at Norwich Theatre Royal.

“I love panto and used to go to see it with my family. It was something to look forward to all year. I have four older brothers so you can imagine trips to the panto with five boys and my poor mother,” he says.

“I come from a family of movie fanatics and wanted to be an actor until I fell in love with dance. Since graduating, Luke has worked as a professional dancer, including the European tour of The Andrew Lloyd Webber Gala, and on cruise ships in the Mediterranean and Caribbean., as well as playing Abram in Romeo & Juliet and Fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Liverpool Epstein Theatre.

*Benjamin Lafayette’s Prince Charming with the ensemble in a scene from York Theatre Royal’s Cinderella*

Choreographer Hayley spent loads of time with the dancers at the Cinderella auditions. “We ran quite a comprehensive casting process, exploring their skills by throwing an array of dance styles into the day, as well as their vocal abilities, acting experience, how they work with a script, how they interact as a group and their individual personalities,” she says.

“Auditions for dancers are often rushed and somewhat impersonal but it’s worth putting in the time to get the best out of people. We were absolutely spoilt for choice with so much talent in the room. They are really strong, playful performers, with a youthful energy and a fantastic work ethic.

“Plus they have funny bones, which is a joy and just up my street as I really don’t like to see a dance ensemble used as attractive decorations on the stage. They are an integral part of the show, establishing their characters, furthering the plot and intensifying the mood and style of the show.”

Cinderella runs at York Theatre Royal until January 2 2022. Box office 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

By Steve Pratt

December 8, 2021December 30, 2021

REVIEW: Charles Hutchinson’s verdict on Cinderella at York Theatre Royal ****

*Rev-olution: Robin Simpson and Paul Hawkyard’s ugly, brash, “aren’t-we-brilliant” sisters, Manky and Mardy, herald the new dawn for pantomime at York Theatre Royal*. *Oh, and yes, they are brilliant!*

Cinderella, York Theatre Royal/Evolution Productions, runs at York Theatre Royal until January 2 2022. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

THIS is a new age for the York Theatre Royal pantomime, both an Evolution and a revolution, and the earlier start and finish to the shorter production run is only part of the story.

On Tom Bird’s watch as chief executive, the Theatre Royal has decided to look to the future with a new pantomime broom ushered in by (kitchen maid) Cinderella after last year’s Covid-enforced detour into a Travelling Pantomime around the city wards.

Enough has been said of the toxic finale to Dame Berwick Kaler’s unique, unrepeatable era. Let’s focus, instead, on what’s rosy in the new panto garden, cultivated by the award-laden Evolution Productions’ partnership with the Theatre Royal.

*Faye Campbell’s Cinderella and the ensemble in Cinderella*

The seeds were sown with last winter’s witty, snappy, pretty, compact Travelling Pantomime, written by Evolution’s astute director, Paul Hendy, directed by Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and choreographed with bags of character by Hayley Del Harrison.

This team re-assembles for Cinderella, bringing along two of last winter’s panto players, Faye Campbell, for the title role, and Robin Simpson, who switches from dame to a rumbustious double act with big, boisterous Paul Hawkyard as scary-bikers Ugly Sisters Manky and Mardy. The beards may have gone since the press launch day, but they are still unmistakably two blokes in shock-frocks.

Forster knew they had chemistry from playing two of the Rude Mechanicals – Hawkyard was Bottom, by the way – in Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre’s riotous comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream in York. Now they form a rouge-and-ready, rowdy partnership, each as funny as the other, with fabulously over-the-top couture, and their Strictly Come Dancing send-up of clunky, hair-in-their-eyes hosts Tess and Claudia is a scream.

*Max Fulham’s Buttons with his very cheeky monkey, Gordon*

Campbell, meanwhile, looks even more at home on the big stage than she did in the community halls and sports centres last December, with her radiant smile, family audience appeal, sassiness, dance moves and soulful voice for Cinderella.

Appealing to families has been put at the forefront of the Theatre Royal’s panto mission, and while that might seem obvious, given pantomime’s traditional audience, it does need bolstering to build a new following. Producer Hendy and director Forster have dipped into commercial panto’s usual resources, but not in a cloying way.

Ever-so-amiable Andy Day, from CBeebies, is a canny pick for Dandini, often a straight-bat role, but here full of fizz, playful humour and natural rapport. Likewise, ventriloquist Max Fulham arrives in York with a 2020 Great British Pantomime Award in his pocket for Best Speciality Act and a very cheeky monkey called Gordon on his arm, who says everything that Fulham is thinking but wouldn’t get away with uttering.

*A shoe? Bless you. CBeebies’ Andy Day, centre, with Benjamin Lafayette’s Prince Charming and Max Fulham’s Buttons*

Fulham, as fresh faced and dimple cheeked as Michael McIntyre, is a music-hall classicist yet inventive in his ventriloquism partners (not only Gordon, but a fly and a pedal bin too), and he is both quick thinking and dexterous, juggling four skills at once at one point. His Buttons shines from start to finish; a big future lies ahead of him.

Benjamin Lafayette has just made his professional bow after Mountview Academy as Othello at the Mill Theatre, Dublin. From such a heavyweight tragedy, he switches with handsome grace and charm to Prince Charming, a very contrasting role but one he plays with a lovely lightness of touch, matched by his singing.

Sarah Leatherbarrow’s forever-enthusiastic Fairy Godmother gleefully overcomes the impediment of her left leg being in a protective boot, with her rapper’s delight in her rhyming couplets, to complete a strong principal cast, highly individual yet good team players too.

*Hop to it: Sarah Leatherbarrow’s Fairy Godmother, defying her protective boot*

Hendy and Forster introduce a second speciality act, the Duo Fusion aerialists, to accompany Campbell and Lafayette’s romantic ballad to breathtaking effect; the climactic first-half transformation scene is spectacular, and only the opening and closing screen presence of an animal-loving, BBC Radio 2 presenter from Liverpool feels like an unnecessary concession to glitzy modern pantoland. The novel variation on the time-honoured ghost scene is far more rewarding.

Even with a running time of two hours 35 minutes (including the interval), there is not a wasted moment in Hendy’s script, with its combination of puns, social comment, romance, slapstick, knowing nods to panto tropes, crisp storytelling and sheer love of making you laugh.

Forster’s direction enhances all these winning ingredients, full of pace, energy, visual delight and verbal dexterity, while Harrison’s choreography bursts with life, fun and even funkiness in a series of familiar pop songs, with the ensemble playing their part to the full.

*York Theatre Royal creative director Juliet Forster and chief executive Tom Bird with Evolution Productions’ producer, director and writer Paul Hendy*

Musical director Stephen ‘Stretch’ Price enjoys plenty of interplay with the cast, while guitarist Luke Gaul has his moment in the solo spotlight. Helga Wood’s costumes are at their best for the Ugly Sisters, except for the wobbly hats; Phil Daniels and Michelle Marden’s set designs are solidly reliable, rather than full of inventive originality or beauty, but that is mere background detail.

Typified by the glorious chaos of Fulham, Simpson and Hawkyard’s Disney-picture slapstick routine, everyone is having a ball in Cinderella, setting a high benchmark for 21st century pantomime at its best.

In another break with last-night tradition, we even know the name of next year’s Theatre Royal & Evolution panto collaboration already: Peter Pan. That one will surely fly too.

Review by Charles Hutchinson

*Romantic pursuit: Benjamin Lafayette’s Prince Charming*, *accompanied by the York Theatre Royal pantomime ensemble*

December 8, 2021December 8, 2021

Violin and cornetto clash as Bojan Cicic and Gawain Glenton declare Battaglia! in York Early Music Christmas Festival at NCEM

*Battaglia! combatants Bojan Cicic, left, and Gawain Glenton with peacekeeper Silas Wollston*

IN the late-16th and 17th centuries, the cornetto and violin were considered equals despite their obvious differences.

The cornetto was the older, aristocratic instrument, a symbol of church and state, pomp and ceremony. Enter the violin, the irreverent newcomer, emerging from a background of dance music for the street and tavern.

For a short period, composers saw these rival virtuoso instruments as interchangeable, with many pieces written for ‘cornetto overo violino’ (cornetto or violin).

Roll forward to Saturday, December 11 2021, and let Battaglia commence, kick-off at 1pm, when Gawain Glenton, cornetto, and Bojan Cicic, violin, clash in A Contest of Equals, refereed by peacekeeper Silas Wollston on organ.

“I’ve always loved the historic rivalry between two instruments that now seem so different but were first considered equals and rivals,” says Gawain.

“Works were written for either cornetto or violin, which we would think strange now, but at the time they were considered alternatives, with the cornetto as the noble aristocrat and the violin as the cocky upstart, shedding its reputation for drunken revelry.

“Violin virtuosos began to be considered musicians of merit, being taken seriously as musicians, artists and composers. Before that, the cornetto had been a mainstay, the instrument of choice for the grandest of church and state events, but gradually its noble status was accompanied by the caché that it was falling out of fashion.”

The “Contest of Equals” spanned 75 years from the late-16^th century to the mid-17^th century. “The cornetto was played by an elite bunch of professional musicians; the violin, by amateurs, and consequently, partly because of a trick of the publishing industry being a market for professional musicians only, composers would say they wrote works for the violin, even though they were considered to be dilettantes.”

Now, Glenton and Cicic revisit the rivalry in a spirit of playfulness. “I love to bring that spirit to the concert platform, just as Bojan plays with that same spontaneity, when people often get po-faced about classical music,” says Gawain.

*Gawain Glenton and Silas Wollston’s new album. The Myth Of Venice*

“You must bring a playful attitude to it, as espoused by Luigi Zenobi [also known as Luigi del Cornetto], the 16^th century Italian court cornetto player, noted for his ‘scherzare’ [playfulness].

“It was the attitude you had to bring to being a professional musician, never playing the same piece the same way twice – and I love that spontaneity in Early music.”

Glenton and Bojan have a history of working together, whether playing in each other’s ensembles or on each other’s recordings. “We spark off each other, and then Silas Wollston keeps us on the straight and narrow at the Battaglia! concerts,” says Gawain.

“We want people to leave our concerts with a smile on their face, having learnt of music they’d never heard before, thinking, ‘wow, there is so much out there to discover’.”

Why did Gawain choose to play the cornetto rather than, say, the violin? “It was the playfulness that I loved. I was really drawn to the sound. When you hear it, it’s almost confusing, thinking, ‘is it a boy treble or a saxophone?’. The first time I heard it, it was like a ray of sunshine,” he says.

“I always played wind instruments, whereas my violin ‘career’ stopped at Grade 3, and the other thing I love about the cornetto is that because you’re stepping outside the modern classical world, you don’t get someone telling you what to do, so I’m pretty much my own boss, able to do my own thing.”

Such a free rein resulted in the October release of Glenton and Wollston’s album, The Myth Of Venice, on Delphian Records. “This is the first cornetto recital recording to come out in the UK in 25 years,” says Gawain.

This weekend, the focus falls on the renewal of the rivalry between cornetto and violin with music from Italy, Germany and Spain. Who will emerge victorious? Be there, at one o’clock on Saturday, to find out.

Battaglia!, A Contest of Equals, with Bojan Cicic, violin, Gawain Glenton, cornetto, and Silas Wollston, organ, York Early Music Christmas Festival, National Centre for Early Music, York, Saturday (11/12/2021), 1pm. Box office: 01904 658338 or at ncem.co.uk.

December 8, 2021December 8, 2021

REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on La Palatine at York Early Music Christmas Festival, December 4

*La Palatine: “Stimulating lunchtime concert “*

York Early Music Christmas Festival: La Palatine, Il n’y a pas d’amour heureux, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 4

IT is hard to think that an early music event has ever included a modern French cabaret song. Until now.

La Palatine, a French quartet who joined the EEEmerging scheme (Emerging European Ensembles) last year, waited until the end of their stimulating lunchtime concert to reveal the origin of their programme title, ‘Il n’y a pas d’amour heureux’ (There’s no such thing as happy love).

It was an umbrella motto for a roving exploration of the pitfalls and drawbacks of love in the songs and arias of Italian early baroque. Italian poets of the period positively wallowed in self-pity over amatory disasters, real or imagined.

Composers naturally followed suit. So we had Domenico Mazzocchi (Rome), Francesco Cavalli (Venice) and Tarquinio Merula (Cremona), amid a host of lesser lights, culminating in the great Monteverdi (Mantua) and his Lamento di Arianna.

Off-stage humming was the prelude to Kapsberger’s hymn to Rosa Bianca, whose dazzling whiteness symbolised virginal innocence. Emotions ran a lot higher when soprano Marie Théoleyre applied her fluent coloratura to Mazzocchi’s S’io mi parto (when I leave … I shall die), exactly what one would expect from a composer on the rave.

A dip into Cavalli’s opera Eliogabalo (1668) produced an aria of heartfelt pain, but the progressive Merula’s tale of a girl continually stood up by her boyfriend was actually very amusing in Théoleyre’s peppy delivery. Sometimes these breast-beating pronouncements are just a little over the top.

With two excursions into cantatas by Luigi Rossi, it was the turn of our love-lorn lass to inflict vengeance, although not before she had turned catty – some distinctly feline noises here – climaxing in some triumphal coloratura in “I’ll make you pay”.

That called for some remorse. It came with the programme’s only sacred piece, Mazzochi’s handsomely chromatic Lagrime amare (bitter tears), with weeping written into every line. It would have been even more effective if Théoleyre’s diction had been less lax.

She more than made amends, however, with a crunching Arianna, lamenting her mistreatment by Theseus, as her central mad scene reached near-suicidal levels. Invoking nature as well as her friends, she calmed down on realising that her fate awaits any who love or believe too much. Monteverdi’s supremacy in this repertory shone through every bar.

We had enjoyed instrumental interjections throughout, including a rambling Frescobaldi toccata from Guillaume Haldenwang’s harpsichord, a lute passacaglia from Juan-José Francione, and rapid gamba figurations from Noémie Lenhof, both these latter pieces by Giovanni Vitali. All were despatched with brio, as were the accompaniments to the vocal music.

Then came the final revelation. Adopting her finest Edith Piaf chest tone, Théoleyre took us into a Parisian nightclub with singer-songwriter Georges Brassens’ setting of Louis Aragon’s poem (1943) used as title for this concert. It seemed to fit perfectly. No-one minded in the slightest. Quite the contrary.

Martin Dreyer

December 7, 2021December 9, 2021

Review: Rowntree Players in Dick Whittington, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday

“Let’s remember what it feels like to come together to sing, to dance, to perform, to laugh,” enthuses Rowntree Players’ pantomime director, Howard Ella

FIRST came the announcement: “In the interests of everyone’s safety, please ensure masks are worn at all times”.

“Ensure”. Good word, that one, stopping all the wishee-washeeness that has prevailed so far, when there is a new variant in town.

Major London theatres are making masks compulsory (for all but children); York theatres really should be singing from the same panto song-sheet too. Anything that helps to keeps theatres open is not an unreasonable request to make.

*Hannah King’s Dick Whittington and the ensemble in Rowntree Players’ Dick Whittington*

Rant over. If masks are one emblem of pantomime-in-pandemic times, it is comforting to have familiarity too. Look at the sign in Rowntree Theatre’s London street scene: Ivor Leak, Plumber. Ho, ho.

Or look at the cubs and brownies filling row after row at the JoRo, bouncing up and down on their seats on a Monday night. It was ever thus at this community show.

“Let’s make the most of it and remember what it feels like to come together to sing, to dance, to perform, to laugh,” says director Howard Ella in his programme notes. How right he is.

*Belting performance: Ellie Watson’s Alice Fitzwarren*

Perish the thought that any theatre should ever rehash an old pantomime script – no names, no pack drill – but Rowntree Players have every right to revisit Ella and regular co-writer Andy Welch’s Dick Whittington, last year’s cancelled panto. Now it is the equivalent of a Christmas pudding becoming all the richer for having had to be put back in the larder for a year.

Hannah King’s resourceful, sprightly Dick Whittington and the ensemble set the tone with the opening Here I Am, establishing the Yorkshireman abroad in London Town vibe, grappling with a strange place of rhyming slang and “Oy, oy, Saveloy”.

Ami Carter’s choreography is superb throughout, knitting principal actors, principal dancers and the young team together so assuredly, and she hits her stride early in Money, marking Martyn Hunter’s return to the Rowntree panto ranks as mayoral candidate and rodent villain King Rat as he leads this irresistible number from Cabaret with panache.

*In the pit: Musical director Jessica Douglas, centre, and guitarist Georgia Johnson*

The song-and-dance list will go on to draw heavily on musicals, some well-known, some rather less so (Love Is Your Legs, from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, for example), but all well chosen and delivered with musical-theatre oomph by musical director Jessica Douglas’s band.

Pantomimes need to combine the tried and tested with the fresh, and here Ella’s regular trouble-making comedy double act of Graham Smith’s saucy, head-strong, sometimes brusque dame, Dora Di Sorderlie, and Gemma McDonald’s daft, accident-prone, lovable, ginger-nutted Duncan Di Sorderlie, must play hapless security guards at Alderman Fitzwarren’s bank.

Their verbal interplay is always a joy, their physical slapstick peaking as they are drenched in coins, but to be pernickety, on occasion they could pick up the pace a tad, especially in the long first half.

*Rat-a-tat-tat: Martyn Hunter’s King Rat and Mary-Louise Surgenor’s Ratatouille in a musical number in Dick Whittington*

One stretched-out discussion between Hunter’s King Rat and Mary-Louise Surgenor’s sidekick Ratatouille had the cubs and brownies fidgeting, but otherwise this is a second partnership of highly experienced principals that clicks, albeit Hunter could have had a more poisonous bite to his ratty demeanour.

Company stalwart Geoff Walker’s Alderman Fitzwarren is suitably avuncular and the show’s knockout vocal award goes to singing teacher Ellie Watson for a belting My Hero in the role of Alice Fitzwarren.

Bernie Calpin’s sassy Kit the Cat is an unusually chatty moggie and all the better for it, when so often Dick’s companion merely meows.

*Gemma McDonald’s Duncan Di Sorderlie and Mary-Louise Surgenor’s Daisy duetting on Love Is Your Legs*

Adding to the pleasure are the uncredited set designs, and even more so the costumes, especially for Smith’s dame (look out for the Chocolate Whip!).

Smith relishes one joke in particular. When McDonald’s Duncan talks of “not making a scene” after losing a job as a set builder, the dame waspishly adds: “Unlike someone”. Who could Graham possibly mean?!

Rowntree Players present Dick Whittington at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until December 11, 7.30pm plus 2pm, Saturday. Ticket availability: tonight and Friday, widest choice; Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday night, limited; Saturday matinee, last few. Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

*Shocking pink: Graham Smith in saucy mode as Dame Dora Di Sorderlie*

Review by Charles Hutchinson

December 7, 2021

‘Pure contentment,’ says York artist Rosie Dean of her joy in painting seascapes, on show from today at Village Gallery

ROSIE Dean’s Seascapes exhibition opens at Village Gallery, Castlegate, York, today.

Rosie grew up in York, studied art at York School of Art and then headed to Manchester School of Art and subsequently Lancaster School of Art, a move that helped her to develop her skills in landscape art on account of her proximity to the coast and the drama of the Lake District.

On completing her BA Hons degree, Rosie moved to London and onwards to New York, where she worked in fabric design.

*Glisten, by Rosie Dean, at Village Gallery, York*

After returning to London, she started hand-painting fine art onto furniture, a business she continued after moving back to York in 1992, when she opened a shop in Grape Lane.

Since 2008, she has returned to creating paintings solely, constantly enjoying the challenges it brings.

“I feel total peace breathing the ozone, staring out to sea and focusing on the horizon line, sensing all around me and feeling the elements around me, the sights and sounds, the salt in the air. Pure contentment,” says Rosie.

“Then, in contrast, watching the mesmerising strength and energy of crashing waves as they make their race to the shore.

“These remembered scenes I can take back home to the studio and attempt to translate into a painting that reflects that moment in time.”

Rosie, of Adelaide Street, Southbank, has had many solo shows over the years, including exhibiting at York Art Gallery, and has taken part in York Open Studios for the past ten years.

She paints in oils on board, canvas or paper, incorporating mediums such as pastels, graphite and inks to achieve the feeling she wants in sizes ranging from 1ft to 8ft.

“I’m forever losing or forgetting things, but the atmosphere and temperament of places I remember so clearly. Scenes that shout out, ‘look at me’. Seascape, landscape and more,” says Rosie.

“I work on several paintings at once, and, for example, if I feel I want to be on a windswept beach, I recall all the elements it consists of and travel there through painting. I feel very lucky and privileged indeed.”

Rosie Dean’s Seascapes will be on show at Village Gallery, Castlegate, York, until January 22 2022. Normal opening hours are 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday.